How New York prosecutors used a terrorism law in the charges against Luigi Mangione
NEW YORK– New York prosecutors use a 9/11-era anti-terrorism law in their case against man accused of shooting CEO of United Healthcare outside a hotel in downtown Manhattan.
Luigi Mangione was charged with murder as an act of terrorismunder a state law that allows stiffer penalties when a killing is aimed at frightening citizens or influencing government.
If it sounds like an unusual application of a terrorism law, it is not the first time the statute has been applied to a case that did not involve transnational extremism or a plot to kill masses of people.
Here are some things you need to know about the law and the case surrounding the death of Brian Thompson.
Mangione is charged with first- and second-degree murder charges that specifically reference a New York law targeting terrorism. It essentially supplements existing criminal laws and says that an underlying offense constitutes “a terrorist crime” if it is done “with the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence the policies of a governmental unit by intimidation or coercion or influencing the conduct of a government unit by assassination, assassination, or kidnapping.”
If a suspect is convicted, the designation ‘terrorism crime’ places the underlying crime in a more serious penalty category. For example, assault that is normally punishable by up to 25 years in prison may carry a life sentence.
Mangione faces a possible life sentence if convicted.
New York does not have the death penalty. The state’s highest court struck down a death penalty law in 2004.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg put it simply: “The intent was to sow terror.” The Democratic prosecutor noted that the shooting occurred early on a workday in a busy business and tourist area, and he cited Mangione’s writings but declined to obtain more. specifically.
When he was arrested, the 26-year-old was carrying a handwritten letter in which he called health insurers “parasitic” and complained about corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has said Mangione also carried a handgun that matched the shell casings found at the crime scene. Investigators say ammunition was found near Thompson’s body carried the words ‘defer’, ‘deny’ and ‘depose’, a phrase some people imitate to condemn the practices of insurers.
Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Weiner said the response to Thompson’s killing shows that it fits within an anti-violence law designed to intimidate the civilian population.
The shooting sparked a wave of public criticism of the health insurance industry. A lot of it is people sharing stories and frustrations, but there have also been “wanted” posters targeting other healthcare honchos. Concerned companies have taken the biographies of top executives offline, canceled in-person shareholder meetings and even ordered employees to work from home temporarily.
His lawyer from New York, Karen Friedman Agnifilodoes not want to comment. Mangione is jailed on other charges in Pennsylvania and has not yet responded to the charges in Manhattan.
State lawmakers passed it in 2001, six days after the September 11 attackssaying the state “needs legislation specifically designed to combat the evil of terrorism” and that this did not apply only to federal courts. Then-Senator Michael Balboni, who was among the law’s leading proponents, remembers pointing out that many cases could come through state and local law enforcement, which in New York far outnumbered federal agents.
Many other states passed similar laws around the same time, and Congress passed the Patriot Act.
There is no comprehensive count of the cases in which the anti-terrorism statute was used because it can be layered on many different types of charges, from gun possession to murder.
The specific first-degree murder charge against Mangione has been the top charge in only three other cases statewide, according to the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
In New York City alone, the terror law has been used in more than six cases, starting with the 2004 indictment of a Bronx gang member. He was accused of murdering a 10-year-old girl and paralyzing a man at a baptism party.
Prosecutors in Manhattan obtained convictions or guilty pleas in cases including conspiracies to bomb synagogues or open fire on their congregants; A plans to build pipe bombs trying to undermine public support for the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; alleged attempts to do so to raise support for the Islamic State group and to provide money and knives to Syrian extremists; and a white supremacist who murdered a black man because of racial hatred.
Friedman Agnifilo was a top deputy to Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., when some of these cases were prosecuted.
Lawmakers set the parameters broadly. The law does not say there must be mass casualties or international extremism, Balboni said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
“You’re trying to stop individuals in this country who want to change governments and use extremism and violence to do that,” regardless of whether what they want to change is foreign policy or the regulation of the health care industry.
Courts have not established overarching rules for when a case qualifies. However, the state’s highest court said the Bronx gang member’s case did not.
The Supreme Court overturned his conviction. The judges were skeptical that the shooting – allegedly targeting a rival gang member – was intended to intimidate the wider community. They were also concerned that the significance of terrorism would be trivialized if it were “applied loosely in situations that do not match our collective understanding of what a terrorist act is.”
The man, who denied involvement in the shooting, was retried on manslaughter and other charges. That was him convicted And sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Yes. The indictment includes another second-degree murder charge that does not include the terrorism charge, as well as eight counts of weapons possession.